LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY catvincent)

Signs of Witness ( a blog which collects news items which may point to a coming apocalypse, usually with a certain amount of tongue in cheek) recently got email from someone at the Left Behind game developers, responding to their review of the 'product'.


' This is from “Mike” who says he works for the Left Behind games people, responding to our earlier posts. The video/computer game is about a Dominionist version of the Christian apocalypse, Armageddon:

"I have been hired by LEFT BEHIND GAMES for the purpose of STATING THE TRUTH about the game. Contrary to what people are saying who want to bash Christianity or Religion, the LEFT BEHIND games are the first games in history whereby the use of PRAYER and WORSHIP is more powerful than the use of GUNS. Isn’t this a good thing? There is NO convert or die! You lose the game for focusing on killing! But unfortunately, the fact that we do not ban guns in the game is a wrongful interpretation that we encourage them. After all, what teenage gamers these days want a game without a gun? Isn’t it better to show them how their use is not effective, is destructive and will eventually cause you to lose? So, please, be a RESPONSIBLE BLOGGER and find out the truth about this GREAT GAME FOR OUR YOUTH before saying another word about it. SEE IT FOR YOURSELF. Then, we welcome any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism so we can improve the game further every year. Thank you."

Our response: I’m told the game itself is so badly made that a player “spends more time fighting the interface than fighting the AntiChrist”. But that aside, Mike, isn’t it the case that Christian fighters in the game kill “unbelievers” and shout Praise God afterwards? That’s kind of promoting violence on some level, against certain groups, isn’t it, whether or not it’s a big advantage in the game? After all young people playing the game will get excited by that violence…and imprinted by it psychologically.

Also the game promotes the Dominionist idea of Armageddon, which many people believe is a mis-reading of the Bible and a generally unhealthy belief that could help promote war in the Middle East. The book of Revelation itself was controversial with those who organized the Bible out of extant materials at the time (eg, the Council of Nicea) and all non-Dominionist Biblical scholars (which is MOST Biblical scholars) now think it refers entirely to the Roman empire of the time and does not predict our age or any other age. '